Monday, August 01, 2011

So the kabuki theater in Washington is over, and, as usual, we're screwed. Not as screwed as we could have been -- the majority of the screwing isn't going to happen until after Obama is re-elected (and yes, he just insured he's going to be re-elected -- keep reading) -- but we're screwed.

Another blogger mentioned that the Senate is "irrelevant" right now because of the Teabagger majority in the House. But really, the whole kabuki theatre is irrelevant. The grifters are running the show now, and puppeting the pols who pretend to govern while the grifters run wild. The only reason one of the grifters doesn’t pronounce himself as emperor is because the illusion of democracy keeps the proles happy. But the end result is what the grifters want it to be -- easy money for them, hard times for the rest of us. Because they own the politicians, including the President. They own them lock, stock, and million-dollar contract barrel.

Thing is, the majority of Americans actually *believe* the scam, and keep voting for the same puppets over and over again -- every single one of the bastards actually got elected, usually by a large majority. And if you tell them that they’re being scammed, it’s just like trying to deal with any other victim of a con — they insist “no no, maybe those *others* are corrupt, but this nice young man couldn’t *possibly* be, you must be mistaken.”

They say the hardest thing about prosecuting cons is getting the victim of the con job to testify against the con-man… and that’s for ordinary con-men, ones who don’t have their own media outlets proudly pumping the con. But this con has heavy media behind it pumping the con. To repeat a favorite(?) phrase of one of my fellow bloggers: WASF.

Duffer, we've had minority rule here in the United States for the past ten years at least, where a minority has managed to abuse the rules and procedures of Congress in order to get their way despite the fact they didn't win a majority in both houses of Congress. If minority rule is democracy, I'll eat my hat.

Regarding the rest, I am firmly of the opinion that democracy is the notion that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. I may bemoan the fact that the majority are idiots and easily fall for any common con or scam that comes along, at least for a time, but I'm certainly not of the opinion that any other form of government is preferable. Tyranny sucks, and tyranny is the only way to impose a government that does not represent the will of the people. Which is why it upsets me when a minority body of the U.S. Congress abuses obscure rules to impose its will upon the majority bodies of the U.S. government, which is what we just saw happen -- polls of the general public show that even the majority of Republicans don't want cuts to Medicare or Social Security, but that minority just managed to impose them anyhow despite the will of the majority.

One of the big problems with democracy is that the average person does not have the time or inclination to really understand the goings on of government. One of the reasons that even as a childless person, I support public education is the hope that at least some of those who receive such a thing will have a basic understanding of things. I know it doesn't always work out that way though.

So you have a situation where the issues are too complex either for people to understand them in the first place or, even if they have the aptitude to understand them, to bother to learn about them. Add to that the influence of charisma and the tendency for people to trust really charismatic people and you have people trusting the untrustworthy to make important decisions for them.

Thing is, anon, that those kinds of voter suppression / vote stealing operations can only work for close elections. If the polls show that two politicians are close, then it's possible to steal an election while still maintaining the pretense of democracy. If the polls say that Joe Honest has a 20% lead over Chuck Crook, then if the election results come out such that Chuck Crook wins, then people start getting *way* suspicious, which sort of defeats the whole purpose of maintaining the pretense of democracy.

But what ends up happening is that Chuck Crook is given millions of dollars by his oligarch controllers to run ads extolling himself as the only honest person in the race, while his oligarch controllers run "issue ads" depicting his opponent Joe Honest as a lying weenie coward (even if Joe Honest has military service and combat medals, doesn't matter). And the general public dutifully votes for the most corrupt candidate, rather than the most honest, because that's what the idiot box told them to do.

As long as people insist upon voting for the candidate with the biggest campaign fund (i.e., the most corrupt), rather than voting for the best candidate (the one who refuses to accept money from the oligarchs would be a start), there is no hope of fixing American democracy. The people get the government they want and deserve, in the end -- and apparently the average American neither wants, nor deserves, honest government.

There is another thread of thought that Caligula, as vicious and insane as he was, did the horse thing as a taunt to the Senate for being such a bunch of worthless wankers. "Even my horse could do as good a job as you!" And it might have been a consul, kind of equivalent to a governor, that Caligula wanted to appoint his horse as.

I remember when I first heard someone say "Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what is for dinner." Totally changed my outlook on the whole concept...

That aside, if only 1/2 the people who sat at home on election day 'cause they were too disillusioned to vote either Democrat or Republican were to show up and vote for a 3rd/4th party then we'd see some serious changes in our gov't.

Purple, there are many more sheep than wolves, so in a democracy, the wolves would be eating grass for dinner. The wolves prefer mutton for dinner, that's why they make sure that there is no real democracy in America, either by discouraging voters, misleading voters, or, in edge cases, outright stealing elections.

As you point out, the people who stay home are the people who decide elections. They effectively vote for whoever the winner is. That is why I laugh at the people who claimed George W. Bush wasn't elected President by the majority of Americans. If you add in the votes of those who stayed home because they didn't mind GWB in office, to those who actually *did* cast ballots, GWB really *did* have the mandate that he pretended to have (and no, I ain't talkin' about his gay lover ;).

Which is why America deserved what happened to it with GWB as President, good and hard. The common folk wanted him. They got what they deserved. Too bad the rest of us are carried along on the ride too.

Also, it's odd how you uber-Lefties hate democracy. The people vote, you hate the result, and so then you hate the people. Very odd.

Oh, shit, here comes another personal attack. Duff, you are are some sort of fool, tool or idiot. We have a (nominally) Democrat President, and a Democrat controlled Senate. As I recall, this was the result of people's votes.

The basic problem with democracy is that it is dependent on an informed and involved electorate. What we have is an electorate that is deeply misinformed by Fox news and right wing radio. Do you realize that there are large segments of this country where the only talk radio you can find is right wing? Randi Rhodes can't listen to Thom Hartmann because she lives in fucking Florida, and you can't hear him there.

It's called propaganda, and - unlike economics - it is a finely homed and well understood discipline.

As for involved - take a look at voter turnouts.

That is why those of us who actually believe in - or at least hope for - the possibility of government with the consent of the governed despair when we see the wanton and deliberate ignorance of the tea party and people like you.

Also, uber-leftie is a weird sort of ad hominem to throw at the Tuxter. If you knew how to read with comprehension, you would realize that characterization is absurdly off target.

Purple -

I remember when I first heard someone say "Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what is for dinner." Totally changed my outlook on the whole concept...

If you are eager to totally change your outlook on an important issue based on a glib sound bite, then I retract my prior retraction. You are indeed a bird brain.

"Thing is, the majority of Americans actually *believe* the scam, and keep voting for the same puppets over and over again -- every single one of the bastards actually got elected, usually by a large majority. And if you tell them that they’re being scammed, it’s just like trying to deal with any other victim of a con — they insist “no no, maybe those *others* are corrupt, but this nice young man couldn’t *possibly* be, you must be mistaken.”"

I wrote this:

"The people vote, you hate the result, and so then you hate the people. Very odd."

Then, for some reason, 'Jazzbumper' got into a frightful strop, throwing his toys out of the pram - but went on to write this:

"The basic problem with democracy is that it is dependent on an informed and involved electorate. What we have is an electorate that is deeply misinformed by Fox news and right wing radio." which translates roughly as 'my fellow citizens are as thick as a sack of spanners because they are incapable of seeing through propaganda and thus fail to agree with my well-educated, clear-sighted opinion'.

Incidentally, and just for the record because our host makes very clear that he disapproves of insults and frequently reaches for the 'delete' button if he thinks he's spotted one, 'Jazzbumper' began thus:

"Oh, shit, here comes another personal attack. Duff, you are are some sort of fool, tool or idiot."

It doesn't bother me, bring it on, I say, but I'm surprised our host was so equable given his somewhat low toleration level. Still, I suspect it all depends on who is insulting whom!

Jazz, you're wasting your time talking to that British putz. What the shitforbrains does here is simple snarking, not much above the level of trolling, merely making stupid ripostes with no philosophical point other than to express irritation at people who are morally superior to him.

I love this site, really I do. I mean, 'Canucko' claiming, presumably with a straight face, to be "morally superior". Gotta' love the man!

He accuses me of "chortling" at the Israeli secret service campaign in which they are slowly but surely bumping off Iranian nuclear scientists involved in Iranian efforts to produce nuclear weapons. I have just re-read it and I cannot see even the hint of a chortle from me, I simply reported what I read elsewhere but added my approval on the grounds that killing your enemy's (you know, those people who keep saying they intend to wipe your nation from the earth) scientists is preferable to unleashing a massive airstrike almost certain to involve collateral damage. Of course, such subtlety of thought is not easy to the nation of the B-52!

However, you would do well to learn from the Israelis when Chavez, or his thuggish second-in-command when he takes over, decides to buy some nukes from Iran or North Korea. But then, from Wilson onwards, a segment of American 'opinion' has always been hypocritical and priggish when others fight wars from which, at first, America shrinks.

As for New Zealand, it is quite clear from the comments thread to that particular post that I had not the remotest idea what my commenters were talking about.

Ground rules: Comments that consist solely of insults, fact-free talking points, are off-topic, or simply spam the same argument over and over will be deleted. The penguin is the only one allowed to be an ass here. All viewpoints, however, are welcomed, even if I disagree vehemently with you.

WARNING: You are entitled to create your own arguments, but you are NOT entitled to create your own facts. If you spew scientific denialism, or insist that the sky is purple, or otherwise insist that your made-up universe of pink unicorns and cotton candy trees is "real", well -- expect the banhammer.

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